Ordinarily, the leading vote-getter in an election who is forced into runoff doesn’t succeed the second time around.
Malcolm Williams turned that old political adage on its head Tuesday night, getting even more votes in the runoff to win the Midway mayor’s seat.
Williams, who currently sits on the city council, defeated fellow Council member Stanley Brown 195-150 in a runoff Tuesday for the mayor’s post.
Williams garnered 86 of the 168 votes cast on election day Tuesday and had a commanding 109--67 advantage in early and advanced voting.
“The runoff seemed like it inspired me even more,” Williams said at a jubilant watch party. “It made me look things differently. My daughter was my campaign manager, and had me running ragged. Two, I picked up people in my community who hadn’t thought about voting, period, and they said, ‘it’s time to move Midway forward.’” Williams said prospective voters told him they were aware he could make mistakes as Midway mayor, but that he shouldn’t act as if he had not made one if he makes a miscue.
The runoff was needed after none of the three candidates for mayor got a majority of votes in the November voting. Malcolm Williams received the most votes, 175, with Brown getting 173. Kenneth Williams received 154 votes.
Current mayor Levern Clancy ran for council but failed to make the top four vote-getters. Midway’s city council will be made up of four newcomers to council — Annie Foskey, Janet Bryant Jones, Vernon Donovan and Rhonda Thomas.
“That’s the great thing about it,” Williams said. “It’s a team win. We’re going to do an outstanding job together. We’re already call ourselves a dream team and we are going to make dreams happen in Midway.”
One of Williams’ first priorities is to develop and preserve an identity for the growing city.
“I still want us to have the small town feel,” he said, “but when somebody says, ‘where are you from?’ and you say, ‘Midway,’ they say, ‘oh, that’s the small town that has a big heart and everybody knows your name.’’
Turnout for the runoff was 21.75%, as 345 of 1,586 registered voters in the Midway city limits cast ballots. Williams captured more than 56.5% of the votes.